Answer:
Carbon dioxide and oxygen are recycled through photosynthesis and cellular
respiration forever unless something interrupts.
Explanation:
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are two distinct and opposite metabolical processes undergone by living cells. They are opposite processes because one utilizes the products of the other as reactants.
Photosynthesis is a unique process to autotrophic organisms like plants. It is the process whereby plants synthesize their food in form of organic molecules (glucose) by combining Carbondioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) in the presence of sunlight.
The overall equation of photosynthesis is as follows:
6CO2 + 6H2O ------> C6H12O6+ 6O2
On the other hand, cellular respiration is the process whereby living cells obtain energy (ATP) by breaking down food molecules (glucose) using oxygen to produce carbondioxide (CO2) and water as products. The overall equation is:
C6H12O6 + 602 -----> 6CO2 + 6H2O
Based on the lab experiments, it can be concluded that Carbon dioxide and oxygen are recycled through photosynthesis and cellular
respiration because photosynthesis recycles/reuses the products of cellular respiration, which are C02 and H2O while cellular respiration recycles/reuses the products of photosynthesis, which are C6H12O6 and O2. This process occurs naturally in the environment and will continue to do so unless something interupts.
Option B is incorrect because light energy from the sun powers photosynthesis while option C is incorrect because photosynthesis transforms light energy to chemical energy while cellular respiration transforms chemical energy to thermal energy.
